Centrifugal machine.



Patented Sept. 5, I899.

n. ALFVEN.

CENTRIFUGAL MACHINE.

(Application filed Dec. 28, 1898.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID ALFVEN, OF STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, ASSIGNOR TO THE AKTIEBOLAGETSEPARATOR, OF SAME PLAOE.-

CENTRIFUGAL MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 632,617, dated September5, 1899.

Original application filed December 28,1897,

700,549. (No model.)

To all whom it may cancer/u,

Be it known that 1, DAVID ALFvnN, engineer, a subject of the King ofSweden and Norway, and a resident of Stockholm, Sweden, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Centrifugal Machines forSeparating Solid Matters from Liquids; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention has relation to centrifugal separators, such as shown anddescribed in my application for patent, Serial No. 663,990, filedDecember 28, 1897, of which the present application is a division.

In the separation of'solid or more or less solid substances fromliquids-as, for instance, in the manufacture of yeast or sugar or in thepurification of oils-the separation of the solid or more or less solidconstituents from the liquid constituent is materially interfered withby the tendency of said solid or more or less solid constituents toaccumulate about the discharge opening or port under centrifugal action.On the other hand, the construction of separators of the kind underconsideration has been such as to involve more or less difllculty, time,and labor in cleansing the same after use.

The object of myinvention lies in the provision of means whereby thesolid constituents separated from a liquid are divided and guided orconducted to separate discharge passages or ports. This I attain byforming upon the inner face of the separator-shell spiral ridges orledges intersected by vertical channels, whereby superposed series ofchannels having a spiral trend from the upper end of the separatordownwardly are formed, each of which channels opens at opposite endsinto one of the vertical intersecting or intercepting channels, at thefoot of each of which a discharge passage or port is provided, thuseffectu ally preventing an accumulation of the solid or more or lesssolid constituents at the points of discharge, as would be the case ifbut a single discharge passage or port were provided. Furthermore, byforming upon the inner face of the separator a series of channelsinclined in downward directions relatively to the intercepting-channelsthe solid or more or less solid constituents separated from the liquidconstituent are distributed over the entire inner surface of suchseparator by centrifugal action and are gradually conducted or guidedinto the vertical intercepting-channels and thence to the points ofdischarge, so that considerable masses of such solid or more or lesssolid constituents cannot collect at the points of discharge, as wouldotherwise be the case.

In order to facilitate the cleansing of the separator, I provide aseparator-shell open at one end and adapted to be contained in a housingor casing, one of the heads of which is removable, so that theseparator-shell may be readily removed, and, being open at one end,readyaccess is had to its interior, as well as to the interior of theinclosing shell or casing.

That inyinventionmaybe'fullyunderstood I will describe the same indetail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View taken on line rt 50 of Fig. 2,which latter is a hori- 8o zontal section on line 3 y of Fig. 1 of somuch of a centrifugal separator as will be necessary to a fullunderstanding of my invention, and Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of asection of the inner frustum, showing one tier of ledges.

In practice and with a view to simplify the construction and facilitatethe cleansing I construct the separator in two parts, each having theform of a frustum of a cone. The outer shell or casing a is closed atits upper or smaller end and provided with an axiallyarrangedfeed-opening a, through which the material to be separated is fed in anyusual manner. The lower head of the outer shell anamely, the head a atthe base is detachably secured to the body of said shell-as, for

instance, by providing the shell or casing with an external screw-threadabout the base and the circular flange on said head a with an in ternalscrew-thread,as shown, said head being mounted on a vertical spindle s,by means of which the shell or casing a is revolved. The separator-shellb has also the form of a frustum of a cone that fits snugly into theouter shell or casing a and is shorter than the latter to form betweenthe smaller ends of the two a distributing-chamber a The separator-shellb is open at its base and seats upon the removable head a of the easinga, wherein it is firmly held against displacement. The scparator-shell bmay be made of any suitable material. It may, for instance, be made ofcast metal and have its tiers of ledges formed integral therewith. Iprefer, however, for the sake of lightness, and consequently economy inmotive power, to construct said separator-shell b of sheet metal, itsclosed smaller end 11 having an axial upwardly-projecting conicalportion b and a plurality of peripheral ports 19 so that the materialfed axially into chamber a onto the cone b will be uniformly distributedover the top 6 of separator-shell b to the distributingports 17 andthrough the latter to the upper ledges on the inner face of said shell.As shown in Fig. 1, these ledges Z) are arranged spirally and areinterrupted at equidistant points by a hiatus in such a manner as toform vertical intercepting channels 0, of which I have shown six, Fig.2, but of course do not desire to limit myself to this number, as agreater or less number may become desirable, according to the nature ofthe material to be separated. By means of the described arrangementtiers of channels are formed, the opposite ends of which open into thevertical intercepting-channels 0, at the foot of each of which is adischarge passage or port 61, registering with a corresponding port inthe outer shell or casing a, through which ports the solid or more orless solid constituents separated froma liquid by centrifugal action areexpelled by said action and collected in any well-known manner. Theliquid under centrifugal action rises through a pipe f, that extendsnearly to the lower head a of the separator-casing a and out through itsupper head, such pipe discharging in a well-known manner into areceptacle encircling the shell or casing a. (Not shown.)

In order to prevent undue accumulation of solid or more or less solidmaterial at points where the ledges, and consequently the channelsformed between them, would terminate above the lower head a of the outershell or casing to, hence not in direct communication at those pointswith one of the vertical intercepting-channels, I provideinterceptingchannels formed by ledges b that conduct such solid or moreor less solid matter to one or the other of the aforementioned verticalintercept-irig-channels 0, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3.

From the description of the construction of the separator it willreadily be seen that the objects of the invention set forth hereinaboveare attained.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A centrifugal separator revoluble about its vertical axis andprovided with ledgesarranged spirally about its inner surface, thecontinuity of said ledges being interrupted at different points of thesaid inner surface to form vertical clear passages and divide the ledgesinto tiers of superposed channels whose opposite ends merge into saidvertical passages, and a discharge-port at the foot of each of saidvertical passages, for the purpose set forth.

2. A centrifugal separator comprising two hollow frusta of cones open attheir bases and fitting snugly into each other, a head removably securedto the open end of the outer frustum on which head the inner frustum isseated, a vertical revoluble spindle on which said head is mounted,means for feeding the materialsto be separated to the inner frustum atits upper or narrower end, and means for discharging therefrom thematerials sepa rated therein, for the purpose set forth.

3. A centrifugal separator comprising two hollow frusta of cones open attheir bases and fitting snugly into each other, the inner frustumshorter than the outer one and provided with a distributing port orports in its upper head, a head removably secured to the open base ofthe outer frustum on which head the open end of the inner frustum isseated, a vertical revoluble spindle on which said head is mounted,means for feeding the materials to be separated to the chamber formedbetween the upper heads of the frusta, and means for discharging thematerials separated in the inner frustum, for the purpose set forth.

4:. A centrifugal separator comprising two interfitting frusta of cones,the inner one shorter than the outer one, both cones open at theirbases, said inner frustum provided with tiers of ledges projecting fromits inner face so as to leave a clear vertical passage between each twotiers, said ledges inclined relatively to said vertical passages,distributin gports in the upper head of said inner frustum disposed todischarge upon the upper ledge of each tier of such, a head removablysecured to the open end of the outer frustum and on which head the innerfrustum is seated, a vertical revoluble spindle on which said head ismounted, discharge-ports at the foot of the aforementioned verticalpassages between the tiers of ledges on the inner frustum, correspondingports in the outer frustum, means for educting the liquid con- Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as stituent of the materialsseparated in the inmy invention I have signed my name in presnerfrnstum,'and means for feeding the maence of two subscribing witnesses.

terials to be separated to the distributing- DAVID ALFVEN. 5 chamberformed between the heads of the Witnesses:

two frusta, substantially as and for the pur- CARL P. GERELL,

pose set forth. TH. WAWRINSKY.

